A schoolgirl had to come to the aid of an elderly woman who'd fallen and injured herself after staff at the nearby doctors’ surgery allegedly refused to ask a doctor to come and help.

The 79-year-old lay in agony on Old Station Road in Ruthin after falling over, close to the Plas Meddyg GPs’ practice. It was initially feared she may have broken her hip.

Staff from the local Co-op and other shops came out to help, and when it became clear the ambulance that had been called was 10 miles away, one of the group - a local councillor - went over to the surgery to seek help for the pensioner.

When Cllr Huw Hilditch Roberts spoke to a member of staff, they are said to have refused to ask one of the doctors to go and tend to the woman.

​A 17-year-old pupil at Ruthin School, who has first aid training from her time in the Girl Guides, ​then stepped in ​to comfort the lady.

Laura Williams remembered her first aid training to help the elderly lady

The hero schoolgirl, Laura Williams, said: “The lady had a fall and landed onto her face and shoulder. I saw her on the floor as I came round the corner from the Coop and ran over to help. Someone phoned the ambulance at about 11.30am, and we did some basic first aid and assessed her injuries.

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“Then a PCSO arrived and helped out some more. He then found out the ambulance was 15km away. Then Cllr Hilditch Roberts went to the doctors surgery around the corner and they wouldn’t help,

“She had managed to graze all over her hands, she had a whopper of swelling coming up on her face and a cut to the side of her face and she hit her shoulder when she landed on it. We cleaned her up, and cleaned up her cuts. She was shaking in shock.”

The Plas Medygg surgery in Ruthin (Image: Daily Post Wales)

Cllr Hilditch Roberts said he was dismayed at the response he got from the GPs surgery, adding: “I have since spoken to a partner at the surgery and they cannot understand why a doctor was not contacted.

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“I was told by a member of staff to wait for an ambulance. But obviously my concern was with the patient as we had been waiting for a while. The lady was becoming very distressed and help was refused. I just cannot understand why a doctor was not contacted.”

He added that as a result of the incident and previous complaints about waiting times, the surgery had agreed in principle to hold regular meetings with the town’s county councillors to address similar issues in the future.

The Daily Post has made repeated efforts to contact Plas Meddyg Surgery for comment, but has been unsuccessful. A request for an email address to contact practice partners directly was declined.